BHP Mackenzie calls US Congress to lift four-decade ban on oil exports

The price of coking coal is likely to remain buoyant despite a recent price cut by Wesfarmers and softening Chinese demand for steelmaking inputs. Wesfarmers, an Australian conglomerate based in Perth, over the weekend cut the price it receives for its Curragh coal to US$280 a tonne over the next three months. The move prompted analysts to consider whether coal, like several commodities like copper, nickel, and zinc, is the next domino to fall as slowing global growth pinches commmodities.

E-mails between the State Department and TransCanada, the company behind a $7 billion proposal to build a pipeline between Canadian oilsands and Gulf Coast refineries, demonstrate "a sometimes warm and collaborative relationship," states a report in today's New York Times. The e-mails, the second batch to be released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the environmental group Friends of the Earth, show a senior State Department official at the United States Embassy in Ottawa procuring invitations to Fourth of July parties for TransCanada officials, sharing information with the company about Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s meetings and cheering on TransCanada in its quest to gain approval of the giant pipeline, which could carry 700,000 barrels a day.

Late last week Ivanhoe Mines (TSX:IVN)(NYSE:IVN)(NASDAQ:IVN) and Rio Tinto received a letter from a representative of the Mongolian Cabinet inviting the companies to discuss potential changes to the Oyu Tolgoi Investment Agreement. The changes related to the conditions under which the Mongolian Government may negotiate with Ivanhoe Mines to acquire, on mutually agreed terms, an additional 16% interest in the project and the application of a sliding-scale royalty to the project. In response to this letter, Ivanhoe Mines and Rio Tinto have formally advised the Mongolian government that the companies are not prepared to renegotiate the investment agreement.

Tom Scholl, CEO of Keystone Industries, told CNBC that he could put more people to work but the U.S. federal government is standing in the way. Scholl said the states are working "pretty close" with the mining companies. It is the federal government that is holding up mining and not working fast enough on permitting. Scholl singled out the US Army Corp of Engineers as creating the slowdown. "We are the Saudi Arabia of coal in the United Stats. It is a great export commodity. And any time you export it it is going to create a lot of jobs."

The Renewable Energy Accountability Project has developed some hit and miss advocacy ads. The latest attempt at producing a viral video takes aim at coal. Renewable Energy Accountability Project is lobbying for greater use of renewable energy sources.

Arch Coal (NYSE:ACI), one of the world's top five coal producers, declined 5.14% on Friday after lowering guidance. Arch Coal expects earnings to be $900 million to $1.0 billion range and adjusted earnings per diluted share to be in the range of $1.00 per share to $1.40 per share. "The reduction in earnings guidance resulted largely from lost metallurgical coal production at the Mountain Laurel complex," said the company in a statement.

KTWO reports that Cameco plans to hire 70 full time workers for its in-situ Gas Hills project in Wyoming. Cameco is currently waiting for its environmental assessment from the Bureau of Land Management before it begins work. It expects to receive clearance and begin work by 2013. Gas Hills is estimated to have total proven reserves of 10.6 million lbs of U3O8.

The price of US crude oil crashed through the $80/barrel level on Friday afternoon bringing its losses to more than 10% in September and suffering its worst quarter since the 2008 recession. At the same time the discount on Western Canada Select widened to $10.50/barrel meaning oil sands producers now sell some of the cheapest fuel on the planet. The international benchmark for oil was pegged at over $102 on Friday. Canada exports 2 million barrels of oil per day and a lack of pipelines means all of it goes to the US Midwest, the pricing point for US crude.

The Thiess Sedgman Joint Venture (TSJV) has been awarded a A$85 million contract to design, procure, construct and commission a Coal Handling and Preparation Plant (CHPP) at the Codrilla coal mine on behalf of Macarthur Coal (C&M Management), the manager of the Coppabella Moorvale Joint Venture (CMJV).